Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of several systemic diseases that attack the retina and damages it by causing lesions. The disease often has no early signs and, at a relatively advanced stage, the lesions can cause loss of vision. Diabetes affects more than 194 million individuals worldwide today, is on the rise, and is projected to claim 333 million patients by 2025. DR will affect up to 80% of patients who have diabetes for a decade or longer. DR is the leading cause of vision loss in developed countries today, is on the rise, and is projected to affect over 275 million persons worldwide.
The severity of the visual loss from diabetes can be mitigated if patients are rigorously evaluated in a timely manner. Preservation of vision necessitates lifelong care and periodic, accurate diagnosis of DR severity. Each patient should have DR severity evaluated at least once a year, requiring a worldwide minimal throughput capacity of 24 eyes per second.
There are many challenges that stand in the way of meeting this need. First, many diabetics, including 25% of the U.S. diabetic population, lack awareness of their health status. Second, a large percentage of patients, especially in developing countries, do not reside within reach of a clinical facility. Third, DR diagnosis requires special training, and many clinics do not have clinicians with such training. Finally, even if care is available and within reaching distance of an aware patient, capacity is limited, the diagnostic procedures are inconvenient and subject to human inconsistencies and error.
The methods and systems described herein were inspired by these and other challenges of retinal imaging.